Japan Earthquake: The Long Road to Recovery

The death toll from Japan's massive earthquake last month continues to climb, having now reached nearly 13,500, while almost 15,000 are still missing. Much of the area surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station remains hazardous and largely abandoned, leaving eerie scenes of desolation. The accident at Fukushima has now been classified as a level 7 incident on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, matching the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine. Gathered here are recent images from Japan's ongoing recovery.

(1 of 3) Toya Chiba, a reporter for local newspaper Iwate Tokai Shimbun, is swept up by a tsunami at Kamaishi port, Iwate prefecture during the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Chiba managed to survive the tsunami by grabbing a dangling rope and climbing onto a coal heap around 8 meters high after being swept away for about 30 meters, Kyodo news reports. Photo taken on March 11, 2011 and released by Kamaishi Port Office via Kyodo on April 14, 2011.#

(2 of 3) Reporter Toya Chiba is swept up by a tsunami at Kamaishi port, Iwate prefecture on March 11, 2011. Chiba managed to survive the tsunami by grabbing a dangling rope and climbing onto a coal heap, Kyodo news reports.#

(3 of 3) Reporter Toya Chiba is swept up by a tsunami at Kamaishi port, Iwate prefecture on March 11, 2011. Chiba managed to survive the tsunami by grabbing a dangling rope and climbing onto a coal heap, Kyodo news reports.#

In this Friday April 8, 2011 photo, slippers are left in the entrance of a building in the Odaka area of Minamisoma, inside the deserted evacuation zone established for the 20 kilometer radius around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors.#

A monument to Yayoji Sato, a local politician, stands in front of the area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in the town of Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, Tuesday, April 12, 2011.#

Desks and chairs remain covered with mud in a classroom at Okawa Elementary School, devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan on April 7, 2011. The March 11 tsunami killed 74 of the 108 students at Okawa Elementary School and all but one of the dozen teachers. The main building is ripped open, with trees jammed into second floor classrooms, and the gym and playground have been reduced to muddied concrete foundations.#

A cow lies dead on the floor of a cattle shed after residents were forced to evacuate from the deserted city of Minami Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, Wednesday, April 13, 2011. The city is inside the evacuation zone within 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) radius from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.#

A tsunami-wrecked supermarket is left abandoned in the Odaka area of Minamisoma, inside the deserted evacuation zone established for the 20 kilometer radius around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors on April 8, 2011.#

Pigs wander around at a devastated area in Minami Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan Friday, April 8, 2011. Dairy animals and pets were left behind after their owners have evacuated from the evacuation zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors.#

A Buddhist monk prays for tsunami victims buried due to the lack of crematoriums in the town of Onagawa in Miyagi prefecture on April 13, 2011. Japanese usually cremate their dead, but the normal system has been unable to cope with the impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands.#

Tsunami survivor Kenichi Kurosawa (center) and his friends write the words "Ganbaro!" or "hang in there" on a new billboard lit up with car headlights in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture on April 10, 2011.#

Volunteers cook noodles for evacuees at an evacuation center in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, Monday, April 11, 2011. A group of 21 volunteers from Tokyo and Saitama brought Sunday 2,000 meals for about over 500 evacuees at the shelter.#

This pair of before-and-after photos (click on the image) shows the removal of tsunami destruction and debris covering the road in Ofunato city, Iwate prefecture on March 14, 2011, three-days after the tsunami disaster and after the road was cleaned of debris, on April 15, 2011. [click image to view transition - javascript required] #

In this photo taken on April 7, 2011, a police officer cleans cashboxes collected from damaged houses at a police station in tsunami-hit Ofunato city, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. Safes were washing up along the tsunami-battered coast, and police were trying to find their owners, a unique problem in the country where many people, especially the elderly, still stash their cash at home.#

A retrieved portrait and other items are displayed at an elementary school gymnasium, where they are gradually being cleaned and put on display by volunteers, in the tsunami-hit town of Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, Wednesday, April 13, 2011. Soldiers and residents have been bringing photos and albums found in the wreckage of local homes, in the hope that their owners will find them.#

A Japanese woman searches for family albums and belongings among a pile of items recovered from the area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and displayed at a school gymnasium in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, Wednesday, April 13, 2011.#

A team member from NPO Japan Rescue Dog Association and his dog search for victims during a joint operation with the Metropolitan Police Department in Rikuzentakata, Miyagi prefecture on April 9, 2011.#

Kunio Shiga listens to a battery-powered radio in the living room of his home in Minami Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, inside the deserted evacuation zone established around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex in northeastern Japan Friday, April 8, 2011. The 75-year-old man was stranded alone in his farmhouse ever since Japan's monstrous tsunami struck nearly a month ago.#

Japanese children walk by children's "pep up" paintings displayed on a window of a tsunami evacuation center in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, Wednesday, April 13, 2011. Some read: "Walk forward," "Be kind to others and hard on yourself," and "Even a bud inside myself will bloom someday."#